This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, college readiness, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with additional focus at the national level.

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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

SBOE Press Conference Media Advisory

First it was Cesar Chavez then Thurgood Marshall and if we allow this trend to continue the current State Board of Education could also exclude the Native Americans, the Spanish and Mexican Colonial periods, etc. And according to them they will not teach about the Camino Real, Spanish Missions, Jose Antonio Navarro, Juan Seguin, Jose de Escandon, Lorenzo de Zavala, Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, the Green Flag Republic or the Battle of Medina in other words we do not exist and the contributions of our ancestors are not significant enough to be taught in our public schools.

To bring awareness to these issues members of LULAC Dist 7, Unidos de Austin, the Defend the Honor Campaign and other organizations will have a press conference on Thursday Jan 7th 2010, at 10 A.M. in front of the TEA Bldg, 1701 North Congress Ave. in Austin.

In order to testify before the SBOE you must register on Jan 8th. If you do not wish to testify please show your support by supporting those that will. Testimony begins Jan 13, but unless you register you will have no input! Our ancestors paid a tremendous price for wanting to be free; we simply ask for what is fair and equitable and want our ancestors that have contributed so much to the building of this great nation to be given the recognition they so justly deserve.

Dan Arellano Author/HistorianVice President LULAC Council 4882Co-Chairman Unidos de Austin

1 comment:

I agree completely that this is a very important issue. Eight members of the current Board of Education want to exclude Hispanics from the social studies curriculum, with no Mexican American figures to be taught in the first three years. Do they really expect us to believe there are no Hispanic figures who affected Texas history? What about the explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who wrote the first book about the exploration of North America? Isn't this ground-breaking author and explorer a significant historical figure to present to Texas children learning to read and write?

I am shocked and saddened that we must still battle to teach comprehensive history in Texas of the 21st Century. When I am elected to serve on the State Board of Education for District 5, I will make sure the curriculum represents all people who have contributed to the history of Texas and the United States. Our young people deserve a complete and thorough history, not one limited to a handful of elite figures hand-picked by men like incumbent Ken Mercer.